The board members — Mario Valentino, who acted as chairman pro tempore, Richard P. Kautz, Ray Pangelinan, and Carmelita Faisao — met on Monday at the NMTI building in Lower Base. Member Irene Nepomuceno Holl participated through teleconference.
When Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed Public Law 20-92 on Feb. 18, 2019, NMTI — a nonprofit trades school founded by the late businessman Anthony Pellegrino in 2008 — became a public nonprofit corporation.
NMTI chief executive officer Agnes McPhetres said there was a need to change the name of the school “to make [the grantors from] Washington understand that we have transformed from a nonprofit corporation to a public nonprofit corporation.”
NMTI director of administration Frank Rabauliman said the U.S. Economic Development Authority, for example, needed additional information about the status of the institute. NMTI has applied for a $10 million grant from the EDA.
He said the attorney general “believes that through an official action of the [new board of] trustees, the trades school will become a technical institute.”
He added, “It is very important to have the trustees’ act in order for the AG to come out with legal opinion as to the status of the institution. From there we can provide that information to the EDA and formally indicate that we are now a government entity.”
On Monday, the trustees also opened a checking account at First Hawaiian Bank that will be used for NMTI operations.
